Updating All Day, Every Day
asiancorrespondent.com Tourism is down 10.28 percent compared to the same period last year, according to Thai PBS, but tourism officials are trying to draw in visitors during the upcoming holiday season. Stop-gap solutions only put off the next incident for a short time. Tourists aren't stupid.
afp Lawyers said they will urgently appeal a court decision that a baby born in Australia to asylum-seeker parents is not entitled to refugee status, with the fate of 100 other children resting on the outcome.
bangkokpost.com Rescuers are still looking for a Russian tourist who walked into the sea on Phuket after a quarrel with his girlfriend and disappeared Wednesday night.
http://phuketwan.com/tourism/russian-phuket-beach-fight-girlfriend-walks-sea-feared-drowned-21191/
PhuketWATCH Daily Media Wrap
PHUKET: The daily wrap of Thailand news, with a Phuket perspective, plus relevant reports from national and international media. Beware of inconsistent imitations.
Today's Top News Items
bangkokpost.com Koh Phangan police will propose scrapping the half-moon festival and black-moon party - closed gatherings that sprang from the full-moon parties - due to safety concerns.
nationmultimedia.com PM loses his cool.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/PM-loses-his-cool-30245572.html
bangkokpost.com Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha admitted certain areas of reform might not be accomplished within a one-year time frame and have to be left for the next government to pursue.
nationmultimedia.com Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha refused to say exactly when the elections would be called, saying the timeframe would depend on when Thailand achieves its goals in accordance with the National Council for Peace and Order's reform roadmap.
bangkokpost.com As Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha arrived in Italy after warning foreigners not to meddle in the Koh Tao killings, he faced imminent twin protests: In Milan against the coup and in London over the murder investigation.
Tourists' Murder on Koh Tao
bangkokpost.com Regional Public Prosecution 8 deputy director-general Tawatchai Siangjaew said prosecutors would hold a video conference with staff at the British embassy in Bangkok at 10am today in order to inform the victims' parents of their legal rights in the case.
andrew-drummond.com An online petition demanding a British investigation into the deaths of backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller may be less than pragmatic but some 80,000 people have signed - some of whom plan to march on Downing Street on Friday.
dvb.no Burmese migrant worker Maung Maung - held in Thai police custody for two weeks as a potential witness in the Koh Tao murder case - has been released and says he wants to return home to Burma immediately.
bbc.com The parents of the Burmese men charged with killing two British tourists in Thailand say their sons are being made into scapegoats.
Latest on the Ebola Outbreak
reuters Authorities in the US are working to notify the 131 other passengers on the flight that carried a second Texas nurse who has come down with Ebola in Dallas.
Phuket World of People
Phuket Update Phuket's Marine 5 Office has ordered all vessels to stay 200 metres away from the Chalong marina while renovations are carried out to a seawall. Yachts will still be allowed to visit the one-stop pier check-in.
bbc.com Six Hong Kong police officers have been removed from their current duties after footage is broadcast showing them beating and kicking a handcuffed pro-democracy protester.
Phuket Update The Merlin Phuket Group has refurbished its resorts in Patong and Khao Lak, upgrading guest rooms at a cost of 115 million baht in time for the high season.
xinhua The sentencing of South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius entered its third day on Wednesday with the prosecution rounding up its cross-examination of defence witnesses and calling up its first witness take the stand.
smh.com.au ''When you go away with your passport you go under the protection or support of the Australian government,'' says Laurie Critchley, coproducer of 'The Embassy, a six part series on the working of the Australian embassy in Bangkok that screens on television on Sunday night.
cnn.com The US government suppressed information about chemical weapons it found in Iraq, and several service members were injured by their exposure to those weapons, The New York Times is reporting.
afp A 31-year-old American was treated for addiction after wearing Google Glass for up to 18 hours a day and even experienced dreams as if looking through the device, doctors said. It is the first known case of Google Glass addiction.
afp The BBC's website was blocked in China hours after a video of Hong Kong police beating and kicking a pro-democracy protester began circulating online.
bangkokpost.com The cabinet has approved a draft announcement by the Ministry of Commerce banning the import of baraku [waterpipe smokers], electric baraku and electronic cigarettes into Thailand, defining them as prohibited items.
thehindubusinessline.com The UAE's national carrier Etihad Airways has achieved a total revenue of $1.8 billion for the third quarter of 2014, an increase of 29 per cent year-on-year. Flights launching to Phuket this month, San Francisco in November, and Dallas in December.
Around the Asean Region
afp International visitor arrivals to Singapore fell three percent in the first half of this year, hurt by a 30 percent drop in tourists from China, official data showed.
bbc.com Malaysian police have arrested 13 men and women planning to join the militant group Islamic State (IS) in Syria. Officials have released no further details, but reports said the suspects included students and factory workers.
afp Philippine authorities launched criminal proceedings against a US Marine accused of murdering a transgender Filipino in a case that has sparked anti-American protests.
latimes.com Editorial: Myanmar should scrap it and revamp its citizenship law to recognise the historic roots of the Rohingya in the country.
Phuket World of Sport
mirror.co.uk A huge avalanche amid a ferocious blizzard has killed at least 20 people in the Himalayas. Nearly half of the victims are foreign climbers and dozens more are missing, feared buried under snow and avalanche debris.
aap The Socceroos have been humbled by 96th-ranked Qatar in a significant setback to their Asian Cup preparations. Australia fell 1-0 in their first ever loss to the gulf nation on a steamy night in Doha.
Coming Events on Phuket 2014
October 23 Chulalongkorn Memorial Day
November 1-3 Patong Carnival
November 6 Loy Kratong
November 14-23 Fourth Asia Beach Games, Phuket
December 5 King's Birthday
December 10 Constitution Day
December 25 Christmas Day
December 26 10th Anniversary, 2004 Tsunami
December 31 New Year's Eve
Coming Events on Phuket 2015
February 13-15 Phuket Yacht Show
